Sermon Title: GOD’S ENDURING WORD
Scripture Text: ISAIAH 40:8; PSALM 33:4
Sermon Series: HERE I STAND: BUILDING A STRONG FAITH
Sermon Notes:
ISAIAH 40:8 NIV
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.
PSALMS 33:4 NIV
4 For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
“The Bible is the Word of God because it says it is the Word of God.”
2 TIMOTHY 3:16 NIV
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
CIRCULAR REASONING
“when the conclusion of an argument is used as a premise of that same argument.”
If the Bible claims to be the Word of God, how good are its claims?
Testing the Bible’s Claims
I. PRESERVATION
ISAIAH 40:8 NIV
8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
1 PETER 1:24-25 NIV
24 For, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord stands forever.” And this is the word that was preached to you.
MATTHEW 24:35 NIV
35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
How do we know that what we have is an accurate transmission of what the human authors originally wrote?
II. CREDIBILITY
PSALMS 33:4 NIV
4 For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
PROVERBS 30:5 NIV
5 Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
PSALMS 68:11 NIV
11 The Lord announced the word, and great was the company of those who proclaimed it:
INTERNAL CONSISTENCY
“Never underestimate what people are willing to believe in order to not have accountability to the Creator.”
HISTORICAL CREDIBILITY
“Before the end of the 1950s, no less than 25,000 biblical sites had been substantiated by archaeological discoveries; there has been no discovery proving the Bible to be false. No other religious document now or in history has ever been found that accurate.” — (Chuck Colson, The Faith)
LUKE 2:1-3 NIV
1 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. 2 (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.)
LUKE 2:1-3 NIV
3 And everyone went to his own town to register.
PROPHETIC CREDIBILITY
ISAIAH 44:24, 27-28 NIV
24 This is what the LORD says-- your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself, …
27 who says to the watery deep, ‘Be dry, and I will dry up your streams,’
ISAIAH 44:24, 27-28 NIV
28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,” and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”
ISAIAH 45:1 NIV
1 This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:
APPLICATIONS
1. READ IT!
MATTHEW 4:4 NIV
4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
2. DELIGHT IN IT!
JEREMIAH 15:16 NIV
16 When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart's delight, for I bear your name, O LORD God Almighty.